Maraloka/Cannons split LP

Published: February 01, 2012

This relatively quick 26-minute split LP (Which I believe was self-released by the bands?) sees Salt Lake City/Provo, UT's Maraloka (featuring current and former members of God's Revolver and Parallax) teaming up with Denver, CO trio Cannons. Maraloka kicks things off with three tracks of generally somewhat sludgy, slightly rocked out, essentially "metal" (but not in a particularly traditional sense) material with strained shouting/yelling vocals. The tracks are built largely upon solid riffing with just the right amount of melody, but I'm especially excited about the awesomely dissonant "Thechne", which heads in a different direction that strikes me as comparable to a more restrained and straightforward Parallax (anything even remotely reminiscent of Parallax is a very good thing). Awesome. Cannons then follows with four tracks that fall into sort of a noise rock meets "screamo" type of approach. Expect loose, angular riffing; a hard-hitting and dense bass presence; plenty of tactfully hectic percussion; and vocals that combine shouting, screaming, speaking, and arguably little hints of singing. I'm not very historically informed regarding this general approach, but it's something that always catches my ear when done well, and as far as I'm concerned Cannons' take is absolutely top-notch. Both bands utilize similarly rugged yet balanced production values that work quite well for their respective deliveries, so that's another plus. As usual I'd definitely like to hear more from both bands, so I'll have to keep an eye out for more down the road…

The vinyl is limited to only 220 copies, so act fast if you'd like to get your hands on a copy. Or, you can just score mp3's for a mere $5.